Five firefighters were injured in Philadelphia PA on Sept. 1 when a tractor trailer rear ended their truck on I-95.

The PA State Police reported that the accident happened during the night, and that the injuries to the firefighters were not life threatening. However, all of them were sent to a local hospital and are being treated.

The police believed that the trucker was either distracted or may have fallen asleep behind the wheel, but they are continuing to investigate.

Our View

We are relieved that these firefighters do not appear to have been seriously injured. However, this tractor trailer crash at night appears to be another case of distracted driving or falling asleep while driving a truck.

Our attorneys specialize in representing the victims of tractor trailer accidents, and we see far too many truck drivers who rear end other vehicles. This type of accident is nearly always the fault of the truck driver and is really unacceptable. As you can imagine, a tractor trailer rear ending another vehicle at high speed can cause absolutely horrific injuries and often death.

We have found that truck drivers often are distracted by eating, using an on board computer, talking on a CB, fatigue, and text messaging/Internet surfing. 

This type of irresponsible behavior causes terrible accidents, and we have represented a family whose vehicle was rear ended by a distracted truck driver. While we obtained a $5.5 million settlement, we wish the truck driver had been much more responsible and had been well rested, as federal law requires.